Al-Sadr agrees to the Pope's mediation in Najaf

Aljazeera.Net reports on the Vatican's willingness to mediate between Muqtada al-Sadr and the occupation forces.

The Vatican confirmed that Pope John Paul II is ready to mediate between Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr and US-led occupation forces.

A spokesman for al-Sadr, whose forces are locked in an intense battle inside the city with US-led troops, has already welcomed the proposal.

But Vatican spokesman Ciro Benedettini told journalists on Tuesday the Pope was only willing to mediate if requested to do so by both sides in the conflict.

Lourdes Visit Was Pope's Farewell

Daily Record reports on the Pontiff's visit to Lourdes.

THE Pope may have been making his final farewell at Lourdes, a cardinal said yesterday.

Godfried Danneels said the pontiff was 'seriously weakened' during his weekend pilgrimage to the French shrine.

Danneels was with Pope John Paul II, who has Parkinson's disease.

...The 84-year-old pontiff, who also suffers crippling hip and knee problems, trembled as he celebrated Mass for an estimated 300,000 pilgrims at a shrine to the Virgin Mary.

Pope Speaks Against Human Cloning

Gulf Daily News reports on the Pope's opposition to human cloning:

The Vatican reiterated its firm opposition yesterday to human cloning after the British government gave a research team permission to use human cloning for medical research purposes.

"The Holy Father has always unequivocally condemned all forms of human cloning, even for therapeutic purposes," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

..."Science itself points to other forms of therapeutic intervention which would not involve cloning or the use of embryonic cells, but rather would make use of stem cells taken from adults," the head of the Roman Catholic Church told an international congress of transplant specialists in 2000.

"This is the direction that research must follow if it wishes to respect the dignity of each and every human being, even at an embryonic stage," the Pope said.

Pope John Paul II to Visit Lourdes

Khaleej Times Online reports on the Pope's upcoming visit to Lourdes.

Pope John Paul II will once again thrust aside concerns over his failing health when he travels to the French Pyrenees town of Lourdes next weekend for the 104th foreign visit of his pontificate

...After his arrival on Saturday, the pope will say the Angelus at the grotto. Later in the day, he will recite the rosary there and preside over the recitation of the Stations of the Cross, ending at the basilica of Lourdes where he is to read a prayer to close the ceremony. In the evening he will preside over a torchlit procession from the grotto to the town’s huge basilica where the pontiff will read a prayer he himself has written.

The next day, the pope will go to the sacristy of the Church of Sainte Bernadette near the Sanctuary of Lourdes where he will celebrate mass and deliver a homily.

Pope Announces New Sports Department

Pope John Paul II announced yesterday, according to the Associated Press, the creation of a new sports department in the Vatican.

The Pope hopes the department will provide new means for evangelization, as he considers sports to be an integral aspect to cultures around the world, of recent tainted by fan violence and doping scandals.

The department will have officials in the upcoming Olympic Games in Greece, as well as in various national and international sports leagues. The Pope also hopes to generate more involvement with athletic activity at the parish level.

During his younger days, John Paul II himself was an avid sportsman, commonly taking summer vacations to hike through the Alps or go skiing in Italy; he was also his high school soccer team's goalkeeper.

Pope demands immediate release of Bishop Misael Vacca Ramirez

The Hindu reports:

Pope John Paul II today demanded Marxist Colombian rebels immediately release a Roman Catholic bishop they are holding, denouncing the kidnapping as an unjustifiable "criminal action."

Bishop Misael Vacca Ramirez of Yopal was seized yesterday by members of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the smaller of Colombia's two main rebel groups...

The Vatican said the pope was deeply concerned by what he described as a "criminal action, in no way justifiable," and called for the bishop's immediate release.